JULY 31 PGCBL: Sweep sends DiamondDawgs on the road for playoff opener

Tuesday

Aug 1, 2017 at 8:12 PMAug 1, 2017 at 9:41 PM

TIMES TELEGRAM STAFF REPORTS

LITTLE FALLS, N.Y. – The Albany Dutchmen secured home field for the first round of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League playoffs Monday by doing something twice that they have done each time they have had the opportunity this summer – beating the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs.

The Dutchmen, leading the DiamondDawgs by 1 ½ games in the race for second place in the East Division at the start of the game, clinched the higher seed and a home game on Tuesday with an 18-3 win in a game that had been suspended due to darkness July 26 at Siena College.

Albany added a 10-4 win in the teams’ regular season finale, and finished 6-0 head-to-head with Mohawk Valley. Monday’s results sent the DiamondDawgs to Loudonville Tuesday for a winner-takes-all one-game playoff. The DiamondDawgs finished third in the East, but had led Albany by four games before being swept in a July 20 doubleheader.

Mohawk Valley lost 10 of its final 15 regular season games, including five against the Dutchmen.

The Dutchmen, who won seven of their final eight games of the regular season, picked up where they left off in the suspended game. Albany had scored six runs and taken a 7-1 lead in fifth inning of the second game at Siena’s unlit field, and the Dutchmen tallied eight more in the sixth at Veterans Memorial Park.

Griffen Herrera, the Albany leadoff hitter from Azusa Pacific University, had a four-hit game that included a double as one of the six extra-base hits for the Dutchmen. Dallas Baptist University’s Jon Skidmore and the University of North Alabama’s Peyton Sockwell each scored three runs while Seton Hall University catcher Chris Villa, Oklahoma State University’s Nick Gallo and Ohio Dominican University’s Justin Childers each drove in three.

Hofstra University’s Austin Pollack hit two doubles for the DiamondDawgs, and Alexis Monge-Rodriguez from Barry University and Tim Zeng from Fairfield University each added two hits. Monmouth University’s Clay Koniencki scored two of the three Mohawk Valley runs.

The DiamondDawgs fared no better in the second game. Albany had its second eight-run inning of the night in the top of the second and maintained a comfortable lead from there. Four Dutchmen homered, including Louisville University’s Adam Elliot who had a four-hit game that also included a double. Herrera had a grand slam in the second inning. Limestone College’s Chase Allen also homered in the second, and Ohio Dominican’s Colin Kaucher hit one later in the game.

Zeng had three hits in Game 2, Tom Moore from the College of Saint Rose added two, including his first PGCBL home run, and scored two runs, and Siena’s Nico Ramos had a pair of hits.